Animal Passion
by Kristine Batey
Summary: Forbidden love in the Sengoku Jidai ...


(For the uninitiated, Ah and Un is/are Sesshoumaru's two-headed thing, the one that Rin always rides. "Ah" and "un" are both ways of saying "yeah"; Shinto shrines often have pairs of statues, one with the mouth formed into "ah" and the other into "un".)****

**Animal Passion**

She is like nothing they have seen before.  
  
It is Ah who first notices her. The despised _hanyou_ is carrying her, as though she were his to possess. The _hanyou_ sets her down in the midst of their group, and she is in the group, and yet hardly _of_ the group, for she stands out among them like the moon among the stars.  
  
Ah speaks to Un in their way of speaking, which is not speech but is like thought and yet not like thought.  
  
_Ah,_ says Ah, _that such a flower should be captive among those, the most foul of weeds.  
  
Un,_ says Un. _If one were to pluck such a flower, would it not be a matter of joy to the flower, as well as to the one who plucks?  
  
Ah,_ says Ah, _if only one could be the one who plucks.  
  
Un,_ says Un. _If only one could be the _hanyou,_ the despised _hanyou,_ lowest of the low, and yet one would bear that stigma for the pleasure of carrying that flower in one's hands, in one's despised and lowly hands.  
  
If only one could be a glove upon those hands,_ says Ah, _to touch that flower, that moon, that sun, that goddess, and yet not be that creature of scorn and derision.  
  
Uh, _says Un,_ I don't think he ever wears gloves.  
  
_Ah is silent for a moment, pondering the tragedy of unattainable beauty, the cruelty of life in a time of unceasing warfare, the unworthiness of the _hanyou,_ and perhaps the occasional frustration of being what one might silently consider to be the smarter half of a creature that is one creature and yet also two creatures, one of whom can't handle metaphor.  
  
_How is this to be tolerated,_ Ah says, after a bit, _that one so fair, so gentle, so sleek of form, so graceful of limb, so modest and yet so alluring should be subject in such a way to the rough attentions of such a being as the miserable _hanyou?  
  
_He has,_ says Un,_ that humongous sword.  
  
Ah,_ says Ah.   
  
They fall silent again, both of them, observing their beloved--for indeed, she is their beloved! how her soul cries out to theirs, how her being calls out to their being!--where she stands quiet, arms extended as though pleading, voiceless, for release from her companions, _hanyou_ and human and _youkai_ of the most inferior sort.  
  
Ah sheds a tear. _One must weep,_ he says, _for the plight of a woman, alone and defenseless, forced to endure an existence among such as these.  
  
_And Un bristles with righteous anger. _Has she no protector, no champion, no husband or family to protect her from this indignity?  
  
_Light bulbs will not be invented for another 350 years, but had they been invented, would not one be appearing over Ah's head right now? At any rate, the light of realization glows in Ah's eyes, as he says to his compatriot, _Are not _**we**_her protector. Are not _**we**_her champion? Are not _**we**_her … husband?  
  
_Un had been hoping he would say that last one. _We _**are**_her protector,_ he agrees. _We _**are**_her champion. We _**are**_her husband. _He refrains from adding, but perhaps murmurs silently in the reaches of his own half of their conjoined soul, _Woo-hoo!_   
  
And repeats it, because Ah then says, _Is it not our duty as her husband to possess this maiden as our own?  
  
_Un thinks, _You better believe it,_ but he phrases the thought, _Was any duty ever more sweet?  
  
_And as one--for one they are, and their thoughts are two but their hearts beat as one and their limbs move as one--they begin their slow, majestic movement (some may say _shambling,_ but some cannot comprehend the many forms that fluid grace may take) toward the flower of their desires where she waits, timid and chaste, for the ministrations of her bridegroom.   
  
As they move, as they flow--and indeed they flow, flow as a river flows, flow as the seasons flow--they are aware, as they are aware of birdsong or the stirring of leaves, that those among whom they move, both those of their lord's party and those who accompany the reviled _hanyou,_ are speaking, are calling out, and yet those voices, even the voices of their own companions, are as nothing, and must not be heeded, for the moment is upon them: the _hanyou _with his wicked sword looks elsewhere, is occupied by the need to discipline one of his small, furry and contemptible attendants.  
  
She is alone, she is unguarded, she is theirs to possess.  
  
They possess her.   
  
As the sun moves across the sky, they move to claim their own. She sits, passive, a child unfamiliar with desire, and allows them to envelop her, to bring her to the highest throes of rapture. Her forelimbs spread outward in both welcome and supplication, she presents herself to their need, and they begin the dance of love, bend and thrust, bend and thrust. The others are crying out, crying out for they have been thwarted, this woman they thought to hold back has surrendered herself to her husband, her beloved, her soulmate, and although the loathsome _hanyou_ may hold her body in bondage, her sweetness is theirs, only theirs, to own. With a twin cry that is like the blaring of trumpets they shudder and release to her their seed, their precious seed. And then, in the afterglow of passion, they become aware of a noise, a keening, a shriek. Screaming…the _hanyou's _woman is _screaming…  
  
  
  
_"Kyaaaaaaahhhhhh!" screamed Kagome. "Inuyasha, that thing's got my _bike!_"  
  
Inuyasha whipped around, sword half-drawn, and then stopped dead, staring. Little Rin had run forward from Sesshoumaru's side and was waving her arms at the creature, crying "Shoo! Shoo!" Jaken was the second person to fully appreciate what was happening. He leaped forward more quickly than would seem possible for one with such tiny legs, taking Rin down as he clapped his hands firmly over her eyes. Miroku, taking the cue, grabbed Shippou and covered the little kitsune's eyes with his own hands. It was Sango, comfortable with the ways of daemons, who grabbed the reins and coaxed the beast off Kagome's metal carriage. The creature grunted and balked, but at last moved on, leaving the fallen bicycle flat on the ground.  
  
Kagome stared at the bike for a long moment, then lifted her head. "In my home," she said slowly, "on the side of my house, there is a metal tube that can be opened and closed using a handle. Attached to that tube is a very long tube, like a snake. When you turn the handle, water flows through the long tube and comes out in a spray. I want one of those right now."  
  
"… Yeah," Inuyasha muttered. Kagome turned to look at him. His face was almost as white as his hair, the amber eyes bugging out of his head. Suddenly her attention was caught by Sesshoumaru. At that moment, the brothers looked extraordinarily alike, the expressions on both faces revealing, in a way words could not, that the Great Dog Daemon, scourge of _youkai _and human alike, ruler of the Western lands, had somehow never found the time in his busy schedule to sit the boys down for a little talk.  
  
Suddenly Kagome's life made a lot more sense.   
  
She gazed at Inuyasha, who stood by her side, a veritable statue, frozen in an attitude of horror. She made a mental note to herself to throw her sex ed book in her backpack next trip home. She raised her eyes to where Sesshoumaru stood, shaken out of every semblance of cool detachment. Okay, maybe she could borrow an extra copy somewhere.  
  
  
  
The vile exterminator holds their bridle and commands them away. They must not disgrace the master by initiating a skirmish. For now, for the time being, until their quest is complete, they must bow to what is, and dream of that which is to be. They glance over their shoulders; she lies still, her passion spent. But they have claimed her; she is theirs. No matter where their paths may take them, no matter how they must labor and suffer, the red thread of destiny has connected them.   
  
_Ah,_ says Ah.  
  
_Un,_ says Un.  
  
They can wait.


End file.
